April 16, 2014 11:18 PM CDTApril 17, 2014 03:06 PM CDTRobidas says he'll spill Stars' secrets to Ducks but still has affection for old team

Robidas says he'll spill Stars' secrets to Ducks but still has affection for old team

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MICHAEL GOULDING/MCT

The Anaheim Ducks' Stephane Robidas is roughed up in the second period by the Dallas Stars' Ryan Garbutt (16) during Game 1 of the opening round of playoffs at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday, April 16, 2014. (Michael Goulding/Orange County Register/MCT)

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When former Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas felt his leg break at American Airlines Center on Nov. 29, he had barely hit the ice before his career started flashing before his eyes.

Robidas, 37, doesn’t have a contract beyond this year. He knew the Stars were moving forward and studying a move to younger defensemen. He really had no idea about his future before the season started. He said he tucked it all inside a safe place in his mind and concentrated on the daily machinations of hockey preparation that make him happy.

But this … this brought everything flooding into his head.

“I mean, I was lying on the ice thinking, ‘Well, my season is over,’” Robidas said. “I was like, ‘I don’t have a contract, nobody is going to want a defenseman with a broken leg, what am I going to do?’ I mean, I really was just overwhelmed by everything all at that moment.”

Fast forward 41/2 months, and Robidas has a new quandary: How does he stop the team that he grew to love?

Stephane Robidas ranks 11th in Stars franchise history in games played at 704. He wore the A of the alternate captain. He sort of embodied an era of the Stars from 2005-13, an era when the team didn’t have much money, when it probably didn’t have the most talent, but when it still found a way to dig in and compete.

So when he was traded on March 4 to the Anaheim Ducks, it was a very strange day.

“I won’t lie, it was hard,” Robidas said. “I have a ton of respect for the organization and I know it was something they were trying to do to help me, but it was hard.”

Stars general manager Jim Nill was in a tough spot. Robidas was right in thinking the team needed to move forward with younger defensemen. He was right that the Stars would not re-sign him in the summer.

And so as Nill pondered the return of a 37-year-old defenseman with a broken leg, he decided to make a move. Instead of trying to get Robidas back into the lineup on a team that was clawing just to get into the playoffs, he traded him to one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup.

It was a move that helped the Ducks and a move that helped the Stars. Dallas will get a conditional fourth-round pick from Anaheim in 2014, the condition being that the pick will move to a third-rounder if the Ducks play two rounds in the playoffs and Robidas plays in 50 percent of their games.

Sooooo … kind of an odd spot now, huh, Jim?

“We knew this was a possibility,’’ Nill said. “We have been around the eighth spot and Anaheim has been around the one spot, so we knew it was a possibility. But it’s something we’ll deal with. I made a deal that I felt was best for the Dallas Stars and best for Stephane Robidas.”

And Robidas appreciates that. He has battled back from the broken leg and has played 20 games for the Ducks. He has five points (one goal, four assists), is plus-3 and is averaging 20 minutes a game. The Ducks love him, and he could be a key to their ability to handle the Stars.

“He competes his butt off,” said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau. “He belies his age the way he plays, and how he never wants to take days off. I was a little worried when any player his age breaks his leg, but he’s come back and played well.”

Robidas was asked if he would be a spy for the Ducks, and he confirmed that he would tell the team anything he knew. But he added that he expected that the sides already knew each other pretty well. He did say that while facing friends like Trevor Daley and Brenden Dillon would be hard, he learned a little something about himself while lying in the hospital and wondering if he would ever play again.

“I want to win the Stanley Cup, I know that much,” said Robidas, who hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2008. “I want to play as long as I can, and I think I can play a lot longer, but my main goal right now is to win the Stanley Cup.”

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